An ‘exciting’ prospect
Commenting on the study, Glen R. Finney, MD, director of the Memory and Cognition Program for Geisinger Health in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., said the findings add to neurologists’ ability to screen for brain diseases. “Evidence of neurodegeneration is part of the modern diagnosis of several disorders. While brain imaging can also provide that and may be needed for other reasons, this could provide an easy, potentially inexpensive way to screen for damage to the brain, giving us an added tool,” said Dr. Finney.
The prospect of using blood plasma markers to explore disease of the brain is exciting, Dr. Finney added. “I would like to see ongoing refinement of this approach and would like to see if there’s other markers in blood that could be used to find what specifically may be causing the damage,” he said.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute on Aging, and the GHR Foundation. Mr. Marks and Dr. Finney have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.